Automatic train annunciator



Jan. 21, 1930. w. F. M KENNON ET AL AUTOMATIC TRAIN ANNUNCIATOR 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20. 1.928

v m M A w n Z lum nAu A OCAWS LOA DING EM S EUGE NE ROSEBURG MEDFORDPatented Jan. 21, 1930 STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM FLOYD MCKENNON, orPORTLAND, cannon, AND ROY c. BERK, or SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, AssIc-NoRS,BY MnsNn ASSIGNMENTS, To THE STANDARD nLnoTRIe TIME 00., or SPRINGFIELD,MASSACHUSETTS AUTOMATIC TRAIN ANNUNCIA'I'OR Application filed December20, 1928.

Our invention relates particularly to automatic train announcing devicesfor railway stations and the like.

Heretofore the mode generally followed in railway stations, stageterminals and the like for announcing the arrival and departure oftrains has been to mark the time on a black board an d supplement thesame by announcements made by means of a megaphone or microphone. Suchmeans, while simple and effective within narrow limits, tend to beunintelligible to the passengers and to add to the confusion of thestation.

The object of our invention is to provide an efficient and compactautomatic train or stage annunciator adapted for all types of railway orstage stations, marine terminals, air ports and the like, consisting ofa surface preferably a curtain mount-ed on rollers bearing a trainschedule and calling attention to such schedule by illuminating a Signhearing a notation to the efiect that the train or stage is Now loading,a predetermined period of time in advance of the departure of the trainor stage; further simultaneously with the illumination of said scheduleto sound an audible alarm thereby to call attention to the illuminatedschedule.

Another object of our invention is to provide the curtain bearing thetrain or stage schedule with means whereby when a train or stage hasdeparted, the portion of the curtain bearing the schedule will beautomatically withdrawn from view, and at the appropriate time anotherschedule carried by the same curtain substituted in its place, a similarpredetermined time before the departure of the next train.

A further object of our invention is to provide in combination with anelectrical master clock mechanism, suitable electric relays and circuitsfor actuating and controlling our train announcing device.

In other words, we provide a tr in annunciating device adapted toautomatically and simultancously display a train schedule apredetermined time before the departure of a train, to illuminate awarning signal, and to actuate an audible signal such as a gong. Then,one minute before the train leaves, to

Serial No. 327,302.

actuate another audible signal of a distinctive sound as a last call,and then as the train leaves the station to withdraw its schedule andturn out the lights.

A still further object of our invention is to provide manually operatedswitches for the independent manual control of any or all the functionsof our annunciating device.

These and other incidental features, the details of construction and themode of operation of our invention are hereinafter fully described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a diagrammatic elevation of our train announcing device,partly broken away to disclose certain details of construe-- tion andillustrates diagrammatically the circuits and electrical control meanstherefor;

Fig. 2 shows an elevation of one panel of the bulletin board, with thefront portion removed to illustrate the details of the curtain andoperating means;

Fig. 3 shows a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4: shows a fragmentary front elevation of two of the program tapesoperated by the mechanism of the electric master clock; and

Fig. 5 shows a fragmentary view of the curtain removed from its rollersand illustrates the arrangement of the schedules.

leferring now to the figures, our train announcing device comprises ahousing a, provided with a number of compartments 6, separated by apartition (Z, which are similar in construction and only one of whichwill be described. A frame 0 is provided over each of said compartmentswhich will expose a train schedule, but cover the other mechanismcontained therein.

A curtain e is arranged in each compartment which is wound at each endon rollers f, g, journaled in the sides of the compartment and passedover idling rollers h, 2". Pulleys h, 2' are provided on one end of eachof the rollers, respectively. A belt j is arranged over the said pulleysand over a driving pulley 73 mounted on the shaft Z of a reversiblemotor m.

In the top of the compartment Z) are pro vided fingers s, s, 8 bearingagainst the cur tam e and on the underside of the curtain is provided acontact bar 25, Figs. 1 and 3. Pertorations e a c, e are provided in thecurtain, Figs. 1 and 5, so that as the curtain wound these perforationswill come under the fingers s, s, s and permit their contact with thebar If. The perforations being arranged to control the starting,stopping and reversing of the curtain, as hereinafter described.

Electric lights are provided in the frame a above the compartments 6 andbehind a translucent sign w bearing the notation Now loading or similarinformation, which are lighted when a train is loading; annunciatingmeans comprising a gong g and chimes r of distinctive sounds areprovided, arranged in any convenient part of the station relative to ourdevice.

In order that the curtain 0 may be moved to display the requiredschedule at the proper time and in order that the lights 72 will be 0illuminated as the curtain is moved and remain so until the train hasdeparted, and in order that the gong q will be actuated simultaneouslywith the displaying of the bulletin and the chimes r actuated a minutebefore the train is due to leave, we have provided suitable electriccircuits in combination with well known electric control devices,actuated by an electric master clock, the latter of which we will onlydescribed briefly.

Referring to Fig. 1, the only mechanism of the electric clock we haveshown is the escapement shaft 2, and a sprocket 3, in mesh with thesprocket on the said escapement shaft which is rotated once a minute, asis usual in such clocks.

Mounted on the shaft 4: of the sprocket 3 are two levers 5 and 6,projecting outwardly in diametrically opposite directions, but on theopposite side of the sprocket 3, respectively. The shaft 1 is connectedin a circuit to the negative side of the source of electrical energy orstorage battery 11.

The lever 5, as it rotates once a minute is brought into contact with acontact member 7, which is connected in a circuit 12 to solenoids 13connected with the positive side oi the battery 11. These solenoids 13actuate the program tapes A, B, C, D by means of pawls and ratchets 15,so that the said tapes are actuated once every minute to move them onedivision on the tape. On the inside face of each tape is provided acontact member 16, which bears lightly against it and is connected in acircuit 17 to a contact member 18 adjacent the lever (S.

The contact member 18 is elongate and resilient, and is arrangedadjacent the end of: the lever 6 and diametrically opposite to thecontact member 7. By this construction the lever 6 will remain incontact with the contact member 18 for several seconds, approximatelytour, as it rotates, so that the circuit of the contact member 16 closedfor the same period. Fingers 19 are provided bearing against the tape onthe other side from the contact member 16, connected in a circuit 20 iththe various control relays hereinafter described.

The tapes are provided with perforations, see Fig. 1, spaced atpredetermined i tervals, acording to the time at which a contact betweena finger 19 and contact member 16 is to be made, so that the tapes aremoved one division each minute, a perforation will be brought at thepredetermined time under the finger 19 and a contact made between it andthe contact member 16 for one minute. However, as the lever 6 onlyremains in contact with the contact member 18 for four seconds, thecircuit through the said finger and the said control relays will only bemaintained for a like period.

The control relays provid .(l for operating the gong Q and the chimes rcomprise simple relays oi solenoids and 26 and switch members 25 and26", the latter arranged in circuits 27 and 28, respectively, oi thesaid gong Q and chimes 1'.

By this means as a 1 erforation on the program tape B reaches the finger18, the circuit through the solenoid is closed and the current throughthe said solenoid actuates the switch member 25 to close the circuit ofthe gong q for the period the lever (3 IS in contact with the contactmember 18.

Similarly as a perforation on the program tape C reaches the finger 15),the chimes 7' will be actuated.

The control relay tor operating the lights p consists of a locking relay30 comprising a solenoid 80, a pawl and ratchet 30", and a notched disc30 upon which an arm 30 rests and which is raised when resting on thetop of a notch and lowered when resting in the valley between thenotches, in the raised position, closing a circuit 31 to the. negativeside of the source of power 11 and a circuit 32 to a simple relay in theheavv duty circuit 3% of the Eights g2, and in the lower positionsopening the said rcuit. So that the first impulse from the tape A willactuate the relays 30 to close the circuit to the relay 33, and a sec ndimpulse provided by another perforation in the said tape will berequired to open the said circuit to put out the lights 7). V

The controls for operating the curtain are actuated by the tape D, thecircuit 20 from the finger 19 being connected to a locking relay 40,similar to the ones previously described except that a double lever 41is provided consisting of upper and lower parts 42, 43, one part beinginsulated from the other. The lower part 43 is connected in a circuit 45with a solenoid 16, of a second locking relay 47, exactly the same asthe looking relays heretofore described, and which is connected to thepositive side of the source of energy 11 in a circuit 48.

A contact member 42 adjacent the upper part 42 of the lever 41 isconnected in a circuit 56 with a simple relay 60 in the reversingservice circuit 48 of the motor m. A contact member 20 of the circuit 20is arranged adj acent the lower part 43 of the lever 41.

The contact 47 of the locking relays 47 is connected in a circuit inwhich is a simple relay 51, controlling the circuit 52 of the motor m.

The solenoid 40 of the relay 40 is connected in a circuit 61 with thepositive side of the source of power and the fingers s, s on thecurtain.

The finger s on the curtain is connected in a circuit with the circuit20 from the finger 19 of the program tape 1).

The contact bar If is connected by a circuit with the negative side ofthe source of power 11.

In the operation of our train annunciating device, let us assume theleaving time of a train is nine oclock and that passengers are allowedto get aboard twenty minutes before the hour.

At twenty minutes of nine, the tape A will bring a perforation under thefinger 19, which will close the circuit 20 in which is the locking relay30 which closes the circuit 31 of the lights 39, causing them to belighted.

Simultaneously, the tape B will bring a perforation at twenty minutes ofnine under the finger 19 and close the circuit 20 to the simple relay 25which controls the gong g, by which it will be actuated for fourseconds, the time the lever 6 is in contact with the contact member 18.

Simultaneously, the tape 1) will bring a perforation under the finger 19and close the circuit 20 to the locking relay 47, which passes throughthe lower part 43 of the lever 42, which is in contact with the contact20 of the circuit 20, and actuates the relay 47 to close the circuit 50and a simple relay 51, in the service circuit 52 of the motor 772. andcauses the motor to wind the curtain until a perforation c in thecurtain passes under the finger s, at the point the schedule is fullydisplayed and closes the circuit 55 which actuates the relay 47 again toopen the circuit 50, stopping the motor, thus leaving the curtaindisplaying the proper schedule.

Then one minute before the leaving time of the train, the program tape Cwill bring a preforation under the finger 19 and close the circuit 20 tothe simple relay 26, which controls the circuit 28 of the chimes 1 andholds the said relay closed for four seconds, during which the warningbell will be actuated.

Finally, as the leaving time of the train is reached, anotherperforation on the tape A will pass under the finger 19 and close thecircuit 20 to the locking relay 8(), which will be actuated to open thecircuit 31, and discontinue the lights p.

The tape D will simultaneously bring another perforation under thefinger 19 which will actuate the relay 47 as before described which willcause the motor m to wind the curtain until the schedule has disappearedfrom View, when another perforation c on the curtain will pass under thefinger s and cause the motor on to stop.

WVhen the end of the curtain is reached, a perforation 6 will be broughtunder the finger s which will stop the curtain and at the same time aperforation 6 will be brought under the finger s and will close thecircuit 56 and actuate the locking relay 40 to bring the upper part 42of the lever 41 to bear on the contact member 45 and actuates the relay46 to close the reversing circuit 48 of the motor 722.

The curtain will then rewind until a perforation e at the beginning ofall the schedules on the curtain will pass under the finger s and closethe circuit 56 and actuate the relay 40 to open the reversing circuit ofthe motor and stop it, simultaneously moving the lower part 43 of thelever 41, into contact again with the contact member 20 of the circuit20, so that it is in position for the next impulse from the tape D tostart the motor m again to display another schedule as the time arrives.

Of course, if the leaving time of a number of trains overlaps twentyminutes the lights 10 may remain lighted and the gong g and chimes 1,will be actuated independently for each train and as one train leavesbefore another their respective schedules will be withdrawn, so that noconfusion will result from the said overlapping of their leaving time.

Furthermore, we have provided emergency manually operated switches 70,71, 72, 73 and 7 5 in the various circuits, so that any one of thefunctions of our train annunciating device may be actuated independentlyshould the occasion arise, such as for special or delayed trains, orstages.

WVe claim:

1. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising a surfacebearing an announcement, a clock mechanism, means actuated by said clockmechanism for illuminating said announcement to a predetermined periodof time, and means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give anaudible alarm simultaneously with said illumination.

2. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising a surfacebearing an announcement, electric means actuated by said clock mechanismfor illuminating said announcement for a predetermined period of time,and electric means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give anaudible alarm simultaneously with said illumination.

3. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, a rolled curtain bearing data complementary tosaid announcement, a clock mechanism, means actuated by said clock mochanism for uurolling said curtain, means actuated by said clock mechanismfor illuminating said announcement for a predetermined period of time,and means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give an audiblealarm simultaneously with said illumination.

4. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, a rolled curtain bearing data complementary tosaid announcement, a clock mecha nism, electric means actuated by saidclock mechanism for unrolling said curtain, electric means actuated bysaid clock mechanism for illuminating said announcement for a predetermined period of time, and electric means actuated by said clockmechanism adapted to give an audible alarm simultaneously with saidillumination.

5. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, a rolled curtain bearing data complementary tosaid announcement, a clock mechanism, means actuated by said clock mechanism for unrolling said curtain, means actuated by said clock mechanismfor illuminating said announcement for a predetermined period of time,means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give an audible alarmsimultaneously with said illumination, and means actuated by said clockmechanism for giving a second audible alarm distinguishable from thefirst-mentioned alarm, and thrown into action a predetermined periodpreceding the termination of said period of time.

6. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, a rolled curtain, bearing data complementaryto said announcement, a clock mechanism, electric means actuated by saidclock mechanism for unrolling said curtain, electric means actuated bysaid clock mechanism for illuminating said announcement for apredetermined period of time, electric means actuated by said clockmechanism adapted to give an audible alarm simultaneously with saidillumination, and electric means actuated by said clock mechanism forgiving a second audible alarm distinguishable from the first-mentionedalarm and thrown into action a predetermined period preceding thetermination of said period of time.

7. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, 9. rolled curtain bearing data complementaryto said announcement, a clock mechanism, means actuated by said clockmecha nism for unrolling said curtain, means actuated by said clockmechanism for illuminating said announcement for a predetermined periodof time, means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give anaudible alarm simultaneously with said illumination, means actuated bysaid clock mechanism for giving a second audible alarm, thrown intoaction a predetermined period preceding the tern'iination of said periodof time, and means actuated by said clock mechanism for re'rolling saidcurtain.

8. An automatic train aununciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, a rolled curtain bearing data complementary tosaid announcement, a clock mechanism, means actuated by said clockmechanism for unrolling said curtain, means actuated by said clockmechanism for illuminating said announcement for a predetermined periodof time, means actuated by said clock mechanism adapted to give anaudible alarm simultaneously with said illumination, means actuated bysaid clock mechanism for giving a second audible alarm, thrown intoaction a predetermined period preceding the termination of said periodof time, means actnatedby said clock mechanism for re-rolling saidcurtain, and manual means adapted for actuating either of said othermeans independently of said clock mechanism.

9. An automatic train annunciator, and the like, comprising anilluminable announcement, at rolled curtain bearing data complementaryto said announcement, a clock mechanism, electric means actuated by saidclock mechanism for unrolling said curtain, elect :ic means actuated bysaid clock mechanism for illuminating said announcement for apredetermined period of time, electric means actuated by said clockmechanism adapted to give an audible alarm simultaneously with saidillumination, electric means actuated by said clock mechanism for givinga second audible alarm distinguishable from the first-mentioned alarmand thrown into action a predetermined period preceding thetern'iination of said period of time, electric means actuated by saidclock mechanism for re-rolling said curtain, and manual means adaptedfor actuating either of said other means independently of said clockmechanism.

WILLIAM FLOYD McKENNON. ROY C. BERK.

